postr/StutterOctober 3, 2013

Help! Stutterer here about to speak in front of 2000 high school kids!!! Gah!!

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Help! Stutterer here about to speak in front of 2000 high school kids!!! Gah!! Tomorrow is my high school's homecoming pep rally. As I was prom king last year (when I was a junior), I now have to announce the 28 names of the kids on my school's homecoming (in front of 2000+ students and faculty.) I did not volunteer for this, but nor did I argue, since I don't want to break school tradition. I am typically a very confident and fluent speaker, having trouble only when I speak in front of people. When I do speak in front of people, I have to be in the right state of mind in order to not stutter. I typically have blocks at the beginnings of words, nowhere else. I have lived with a stutter most of my life, and only in the past couple years have I begun to get a strong hold on my speech. Any last minute tips for a very nervous young man?!! UPDATE: Sorry for being a bit late on this, but it went remarkably well--I didn't stutter once! I did not get a chance to say that I had a stutter, but it ended up not being necessary. I suppose speaking into a microphone is different, and so I was able to use the delay in the microphone to remind myself to use my strategies. My duties, which I wasn't too clear on, were to announce the names of the 28 boys and girls, along with my school's prom queen, and say a little rhyme that rhymes with their name. It went great, and I couldn't have been more relieved afterwards. That was a very good day. Thanks for your concern and support! The advice here helped me keep the courage I needed to not ask someone else to say the rhymes for me!

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceEmotional ExperienceCoping & Advocacy

Subthemes

Anticipating StutteringAnxiety & Social JudgmentFluency TechniquesHope & Motivation